Illuminating device for license-plates.



G LAUB.

ILLUMiNATiNG DEVSCE FOR LICENSE PLATES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR, 14. 1914.

1,135,822, Patented Apr. 13, 1915.

TZO llillilallllllll Quinn-{20 wanes Q2;

m we

"-riew, my structien, paws t6 claims,

ijemfing dswnwardiy from the 11m $3118 casing 5 are a airgxof ivarg parting arms 1%, the ewer'ends of iiPEitLEIBd fer. connection to aiicense 15, 50 32 at the rays of ligh projecting 5 fla open bcttom of the casing 5, sirike the pia'm to ifiuminate the same.

To (fiveit parsf the rm 5; of the 1am 6 5:0 the iicense 91am, 3 reflector piate 16 epemisfram the ante: and; (:f tha casing 5 as clearly ii"! trateii in Fig 2 0f the drawing, so zhat is Eiuense plate wiii be brignfly iihnnina'zed, The refiectm' pirate is outwardiy and dmmwarm inciine so that the rays @i siriking iherean wiii be reflected downwart and rearward. It will further be seen that ike, refiectm is so formed thaiz izhs entiya surface {pf the Zicense. late isiihzminafied. This is bacause the reel ector is transverseiy fiat and not curved. If the reflector were curved the middle partion of the iicense plate Wank? be most brilliantly iiiuminated and tha marginal port-isms of the license piais Wadi-ii only relatively siighfly ilhzminat-ei Furthermore, it is m be noted thin, the re fiectar is entirely bslow the outside 0% the space inclosed by the Miami waii 5 of the iamp sawing so that there is no sbatrucbion 40 the lens Y. Thus the tall hgh 3105; only $111!" erfox'ms its functions as a taxi iizzhzfi ,y

mt also fully iiluminntes the iicsnsa The electrical connections cemgri Ades a lamp 6 and the lamps 1.2, a 1'? and the circuit wires 1S {1451 1 extend from the positive and negati of file batter". The 15151]? 1'2 are connected in mnki Quit wires 18 and 19, and c1 28 is pmvidefi in open and dosacuzmecting the batter] an the i shown in the (zizagrammatic View wiring in Fig. fiae (:mwing. 6 ib always in circui z with we when the switch 20 is elasmi, scn lamp is always rommciing the battery and in {he (min 9, normal vlnswi by a huiizmz a As long as the operator oi the vehicle drives straight ahead, the circuits connecting the battery with the casings 9 and 10 are allowed to remain open, so that only the tail light 6 is visible. When the operator approaches a cornerat which he intends to turn, he depresses one of the button switches 21 and 23,

according to the direction in which he is about to turn, so that the corresponding signal 9 or 10 is illuminated to indicate to vehicles following of his intention to turn the corner in a direction to which the illuminated signal points; After the vehicle has turned the corner, the operator may remove the pressure from the button switch 21 or 23, which has been operated, so that the lamps contained-within the signal which has been lighted are again extinguished to allow only the tail light 6 to remain visible. It will be-seenjthat in a device constructed in accordance with my invention,that all danger of rear end collisions of vehicles traveling in the same direction is obviated-v as the driver of the vehicle in the rear of 1 the one in which'the operator thereof intends to turn a corner is warned of that intention by the illumination of the signals as the foremost .vehicl'e approaches the corner. I

From the above description, taken in 0on nection with the accompanying drawing,

it will be seen that my device providesan' improved signaling means for motor ve hicles or the like, which also serves as a tail light for the vehicle, and as a license tag carrier, the rays of the tail light being utilized to illuminate the license tag.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In a vehicle, the combination with a lamp casing having an open bottom, of a lens mounted in the front wall of the casing,

supporting arms extending downward and outward from the rear end of the casing, a license plate carried upon the lower ends of the arms, a downwardly extending forwardly inclined reflector depending from the front end of the lamp casing and en tirely below the lateral wall of the casing and adapted to reflect rays from a lamp disposed w'ithin the casing downward upon said license plate, without in any way 0bstructing the passage of other rays through the lens, said reflector being transversely flat and gradually increasing in width from its upper to its lower end, the lower edge of v the reflector extending in a horizontal plane 

